Plan B
We had two seminars today that were off the proverbial hook. Chip Kidd is a book cover design guru, having done everything from Jurassic Park to David Sedaris' Naked to the Peanuts Art Anthology. His presentation was hilariously entertaining, showing us rejected covers and even resorting to singing at one point. When a girl in the back asked him to speak up, he immediately yelled "NO! If you can't hear me, you're deaf" and continued. It was interesting to hear the thought processes behind his newest designs. I was fortunate to sit in on a 23-person workshop with him, where he critiqued several students' own book cover designs (I'm working on one now, but was too embarrassed to show it after seeing all of his work).
Equally as inspiring was Linda Kaplan Thaler, who is responsible for TV ads like the Aflac duck, the "Toys R Us Kid" song, and the Herbal Essence shampoo line. She was very passionate about how the best stuff always comes from your Plan B, no matter how much you love your Plan A. Aflac was a small company that only 3% of the country recognized before her campaign; they're up to 96% recognition now. The Aflac duck idea came from frustrated creative directors shouting the name and jokingly commenting on how it sounded like a duck quacking; plan B worked.
I'm excited to hear that Eric is pursuing the rockstar dream and that jeffchin.com is a month old. I'm also surprised/excited about the response that Shoot is getting, both back home and within my circle of friends here. More is on the way...
Thursday, November 13 at 5:22 PM
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